Wardrobe Staple: Knit Tops

I have been working on different wardrobe pieces recently (mostly will a Fall/Winter theme). I realized I needed to, and wanted to, improve my look and style but without changing who I am or what I like to wear. Since I’m at home during the day, I don’t need fancy clothes or the typical work wardrobe. But, I also realized that my usual outfit of jeans and T-shirts (or shorts and T-shirts during the summer) needed some serious updating. So, I decided to sew myself a few pieces to begin. In this blog post I’ll discuss the two patterns I used for these tops: 1) Vogue 9205 and 2) Patterns for Pirates Women’s Henley PDF.

I have a substantial fabric stash that includes a lot of knits, so I was happy to give these patterns a try. The Vogue pattern is basically a classic that includes darts at the neckline and topstitching.

One of the things that I really like about this shirt is the length. It can be tucked in (although made to worn out) but it provides good coverage.

As you can see, there are sleeve options with this shirt which is great as I’m trying to prepare some items for Fall weather.

The henley top (it’s a PDF from Patterns for Pirates) I didn’t have but purchased when I saw it. I’ve been looking for a henley-style T-shirt pattern for a while and never found anything that was even close. I came across this pattern (thank you Google) when I threw out some I had for years that were worn so often the edges were all worn out.

The gray was made with a light-weight cotton knit while the others are all ponte knits. I added snaps on the gray shirt but kind of wish I hadn’t. I love the snaps, but I forgot how time-consuming it can be to add snaps when you haven’t done them in a long time. It took me almost as long to get then on as it did for me to actually make the shirt. The placement could have been better also, but so it goes. The blue top has buttons!

This pattern is terrific though. It has sleeve and hem variations as well as a hood and banded waist. This is definitely one that I’ll be making more of.

That’s all for now. I would recommend both of these patterns to anyone out there. They are both terrific!